Web Hosting To Learn From a Porn Industry Guru?

January 3, 2017

World Hosting Days (WHD), one of the two popular web hosting industry conferences, which originally started as German and European event (Web Hosting Days) to my surprise sent me an invitation for their March 25 – 31, 2017 forum, I find quite weird.

Hello Dimitar!

From media formats like VHS tapes and DVDs to new web streaming services, the desire to watch pornography has moved technology forward time and again. Fabian Thylmann is a pioneer in streaming content as the founder of the company that hosts the most popular adult websites. We’re pleased to announce that Fabian is our latest speaker at WHD.global. He’ll be discussing the infrastructure behind some of the most popular sites online, how they overcame troubles along the way, and how you can apply lessons from the adult industry to your business.

The email message has been sent to my WHD registered address and is signed by WorldHostingDays’ CEO Soeren von Varchmin. He also says that “it may come at no surprise that adult websites are among the most popular sites on the web”.

The WHD CEO points the recipients attention (I’m just one of the few thousands, addressed by email) that the most popular one porn websites – YouPorn, MyDirtyHobby, Pornhub and others – are run by MindGeek, a company that Mr. von Varchmin nominates as “cutting-edge tech company that just happens to manage risqué content”. The email also says that like other video streaming sites, MindGeek provides a highly sophisticated hosting infrastructure for hundreds of millions of users as it streams content, delivers ads, and handles peaks in traffic.

This was probably a very good reason for World Hosting Days to invite Fabian Thylmann, an executive of a porn infrastructure web host, who according to Mr. von Varchmin “was there at the beginning” as a speaker to the 2017 World Hosting Days conference.

The invitation email sent to anyone registered with World Hosting Days says that “In an exclusive WHD.global presentation, Fabian will discuss how the company dealt with the rapid popularity of these sites and how its technology-first approach forged new solutions that got content to massive numbers of people – even if they won’t admit to watching it”.

Is Such Presentation Normal For A Premier Web Hosting Industry Gathering?

No. I think it is a total disgrace and says a lot about the moral standards and values of our industry. Why do I say that?

There is nothing unreasonable with the adult industry itself and with adult online streaming in particular. People need it and therefore it is a very good business for many.

However, in terms of online streaming technology, load-balancing of computing instances that host resource demanding applications and management of high traffic websites, there are many other better technology examples and business models, that deserve to be featured and discussed. Hosting Infrastructures, companies and It environments that support financial industry are among them. I looks wrong to me the web hosting industry to pay tributes to one of largest adult entertainment operators in the world. It is either the adult industry or the web hosting industry’s gathering. Business entities that belong to either one can do business and cooperate. However these industries are totally different by nature. IT hosting industry is about innovation and digital economy, while the adult industry is about particular instincts and needs.

“All you need is a hand”, says a billboard of PornHub, one of the websites owned by the company that Mr. Fabian Thylmann created. The message is not that bad, it is amusing! Mr. Thylmann has obviously been very successful in his business. However, I really believe that those involved into IT hosting, Data center and Cloud computing industry deserve better examples of business leadership and can do quite well without being guided by adult streaming website gurus.

World Hosting Day’s used to be a good conference. However, some of its 2017 edition’s agenda brings some controversy and may hurt its reputation?